Online College Accommodations for Students with Learning Disabilities
Are you an online college student with a learning disability? Find out the most common accommodations available and how you can qualify.
Sep 08, 2014 | By Jamar Ramos
While enrolled in elementary, middle, and high school, a student with identified learning disabilities may be entitled to accommodations to help them succeed in the classroom. In order to receive these accommodations, however, the student must first be formally evaluated, with their parents' permission, for a learning disability. If the testing demonstrates that the student has a learning disability and would benefit from additional services, an Individualized Education Program (IEP) may be created through the collaboration of parents, administrators, and educators. The IEP outlines a system of supports and services - including accommodations - that the student may receive in order to help them succeed in classes.
If you have received accommodations based on an IEP while in elementary, middle or high school and are still in need of accommodations such as assistive technology, know that your IEP does not transition with you to your postsecondary institution. This does not mean, however, that you may not be able to receive accommodations from your college or university.
While in primary and secondary school a student with identified learning disabilities is protected by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This changes when you move onto a college or university, where the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the primary law that offers protections against discrimination and ensures you equal rights and opportunities. In order to qualify for accommodations in college which might include assistive technologies, you will need to disclose that you have a learning disability. School administrators will most likely ask for documentation that you have a learning disability. According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) documentation can include:
With all of this documentation in place, colleges and universities are required by law to provide reasonable accommodations for students with learning disabilities.
Accommodations for college students typically include:
The merging of assistive technology and online learning can be a good thing for students with learning disabilities. It allows these students to participate in multiple forms of learning while receiving the assistance they need to remain successful, and also brings schools closer to making every course accessible to all students.
In a 2008 paper, "Making Distance Learning Courses Accessible to Students with Learning Disabilities," Adam Tanners and Kavita Rao state: "[A]s online courses become an increasingly popular way to provide access to higher education, it is necessary for course developers to consider issues of 'accessibility' of courses for people with disabilities." Their paper points out the legal and ethical importance of ensuring that all students can take advantage of online classes and degree programs.
To this end, a number of schools that offer online classes have taken great care to spell out how their courses offer accommodations for students with learning disabilities. Here are two such examples:
Some students may be wary of disclosing that they have a learning disability for any number of reasons. While this can disqualify them from receiving any assistance or assistive technologies from their school, it does not stop them from searching out some of these technologies for themselves. Here are a few ways that students can find adaptive technologies for themselves.
As the paper by Tanner and Rao intimated, online classes are gaining in popularity. Different colleges and universities may have differing levels of accessibility and accommodations, but they are working to rectify that situation.
The guidelines that Gallaudet has put together also contain a section for students with learning disabilities called "Is Distance Learning Right for You?" In this section the school calls out the fact that online learning may offer some solutions to accommodation issues for students with learning disabilities while creating new problems. It is important that you carefully consider how enrolling in an online class or degree program may affect your ability to follow along, complete coursework, and even receive many of the accommodations that you will need for success. Please be sure to contact any school you are interested in attending and inquire about their guidelines for how online courses accommodate students with learning disabilities.